In Plain View
(Amish Safe House, Book 2)
Copyright © 2015 by Ruth Hartzler
All rights reserved
Smashwords Edition.
Smashwords License Notes.
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Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The personal names have been invented by the author, and any likeness to the name of any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This book may contain references to specific commercial products, process or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, specific brand-name products and/or trade names of products, which are trademarks or registered trademarks and/or trade names, and these are property of their respective owners. Ruth Hartzler or her associates, have no association with any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, specific brand-name products and / or trade names of products.
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Philippians 2:1-30.
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.
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Malachi 4:1-6.
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.”
Table of Contents.
Chapter 1.
Chapter 2.
Chapter 3.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 5.
Chapter 6.
Chapter 7.
Chapter 8.
Chapter 9.
Chapter 10.
Chapter 11.
Chapter 12.
Chapter 13.
Chapter 14.
Chapter 15.
Chapter 16.
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Galatians 6:14.
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Chapter 1.
High powered U.S. Marshal, Kate Briggs, was in the back of a buggy, disguised as an Amish woman. She felt like a child, sitting in the back seat, her knees pressed tightly against the back of the driver’s seat in front of her. Isaac, of course, was driving; the Amish were decidedly old school like that. Isaac’s wife, Beth, made the dinner; she tended the garden, and Isaac did the manly stuff, like drive, and patch the roof, and whatever else needed doing.
Kate was grateful that her boss had sent her to live undercover with the Amish, for her own protection, while he tried to discover who intended her harm. At first, Kate had thought that no one would ever accept that she was Amish, yet her cover as an Amish woman with amnesia, a woman from an Amish community in another state, had worked so far. The bishop and his wife were the only ones party to the information.
Kate was staying in a grossmammi haus behind the large farmhouse of Isaac and Beth Kauffman, and while she at first had found the situation daunting, she was now accustomed to the Amish way of life.
The farmland sliding slowly past Kate looked like the miles that had come before, and the miles that were still to come. Green fields of corn, golden wheat standing high, the tips swaying in the soft summer breeze slightly, so that it all looked like a yellow sea where the waves were lazily being pulled up toward the sun.
“Hey, who’s that?” Beth called from the passenger seat, pointing her index finger.
Kate’s view had given way to something other than farm fields. It was a long stretch of green grass behind a small wire fence, and in the distance there was a shimmering blue-green pond. Someone was standing at the edge of the pond facing the road, waving their hands back and forth, obviously hoping to get the buggy’s attention.
“Well, it’s Hugh White’s land, so I reckon it’s him,” Isaac said with a chuckle.
“It looks like you’re right,” Beth said, nodding her head, her bonnet bobbing slightly with the motion.
Kate did not understand how they could be so sure. From this distance, she could tell it was someone waving their hands, and that was about it. If she had to say anything about the figure, she would guess that it was a man.
Isaac pulled the buggy over to the side of the road and stopped it completely, the two wheels on the passenger side sitting off the pavement and into the dirt that bordered the wire fence.
Everyone climbed out of the buggy, and Kate took the lead as they stepped down a slight dip to the fence.
“I can go see what he wants, if its easier for you,” Kate said, climbing over the small fence and turning to the older folk, but Isaac shook his head and climbed over the fence himself, and then he turned and helped Beth over as well.
“Best to see what he wants,” Isaac said. “Might be trouble, might need more hands. I’m guessing one of his cows got stuck in his pond.”
And indeed as they walked, they passed a few of the cows, big and black and white, their eyes large and dark and swiveling in their sockets to keep a view of the humans as they passed. Kate thought that the animals looked as if they were curious, and she hoped they would not mind trespassers through their home. One of the cows walked toward the small group of three, mooing softly, her tail swinging behind her almost like a puppy. Kate wondered if the cow would have come up and permit her to pet her, but she was too anxious to get to Hugh and see what he needed.
“I’ve called the police,” the man said, as they got close enough to hear him, and Kate thought that was a strange thing to say. “I just, err, I didn’t want to leave here, but I wanted to go to the road and make sure they get flagged down.”
“What are you going on about?” Isaac asked Hugh, but Kate was the first one to the man, and she looked past him to the edge of the pond and knew what he was talking about pretty quickly.
On the shore, face down, the legs sticking into the still water, and the torso and head and arms out, was a body. It was a man with brown hair, and although she could not see his face, Kate was reasonably sure he was no more than thirty five
. She took a step forward, but stopped herself from moving any more than that - she had to remember not to give herself away.
“Oh my,” Beth said, clapping a hand over her mouth when she saw the body. Isaac had seen it too, and he put a protective hand on his wife’s arm.
“What happened?” Isaac asked. “Who is that?”
“I don’t rightly know,” Hugh said, shaking his head and pulling off his hat. He wiped his arm across his brow and replaced the hat. “I was just coming to check on one of the heifers; she hurt her leg yesterday. I cut through the woods there, then came around here and saw him. I didn’t look too close. Then I had to run to the barn to call the police.”
Isaac turned to his wife. “Beth, why don’t you walk back to the road and make sure they see us?”
Beth nodded her head at her husband's suggestion and turned away. She looked a bit green in the face, and Kate was certain that Beth had never seen a dead person before.
“Hang on there, Beth,” Hugh called. “I’ll go up with you.”
Beth nodded, and Hugh joined her. Isaac waited until they were halfway back to the road before he spoke. “You don’t seem bothered by it,” he said.
Kate shrugged her shoulders, turning to look at the body once more.
Isaac kept the conversation going. “You’ve seen someone die?”
Kate sighed; she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say here. She turned to the Isaac and shook her head.
“Die? No. But a body. My cousin, when we were younger.” That, at least, was the truth.
The old man nodded. “Well, I’m sorry to hear it.”
“It’s all right. It was a long time ago.”
Isaac nodded his head to the body on the shore of the pond. “What happened to him, ya reckon?”
Although the question seemed to be addressed more to himself than to Kate, she stepped forward a little. “I’m not sure. He doesn’t look drowned, does he?”
Isaac came up beside her. “No, he doesn’t.”
Isaac kept walking forward, so Kate fell into step beside him. They stopped just shy of stepping onto the muddy shore. Kate was glad of that; she did not want them to leave footprints in the mud. As it was, there were no footprints around the body, which was odd. Had the man fallen? Kate looked up, and saw nothing but the blue sky of summer, and a few wispy white clouds sliding slowly along. If he had fallen, what could have been the cause?
“What’s that there?” Isaac asked, pointing his finger.
Kate looked and saw what he was talking about. She bent at the knees, coming down to sit on her haunches, so she was more level with the body, but still not on the shore. On the man’s right wrist was a tattoo. His arm was stretched upwards, and his wrist just went past the top of his head. The tattoo was on the inside of the wrist, a black snake with the jaws wide and the fangs up high.
“A tattoo,” Isaac said, squinting. “Don’t see many of them around here.”
Kate nodded. “No, you don’t.”
She stood back up and looked toward the road across the field. A white and blue police car had pulled up. It sat on the edge of the road behind Isaac’s buggy, the lights on top of the car flashing red and blue. It appeared as if two cops were climbing over the fence, following Hugh back to the pond. Kate could see Beth standing near the fence, but making no effort to move.
Isaac and Kate stood waiting for the cops to make it to the pond, and when they finally did, they shook hands and introduced themselves. The cops introduced themselves as Officer Jones and Officer Saracen. Both were male and in their late twenties, both of them lean and muscular, but Saracen was short, and Jones had a brown mustache.
The cops asked everyone to step back as they inspected the body, and Kate stood with Isaac and Hugh. Something was eating at her, something in her mind pressing against her brain, a memory of something. It had to do with the tattoo. She kept thinking about it, watching as Saracen put on a white plastic glove and moved the man’s arm.
And then, as memories so often do, it all came flooding back to her. She had seen that tattoo before, on two different people. Both of them were men she had worked with in WITSEC. They had been men she had hidden away. And they both had shared something else in common. They had been hitmen for the same mobster, Logan White, a big time crime boss who was nicknamed The Viper.
All Logan White’s top men were required to get the tattoo on their wrists. No doubt it made them remember that they were loyal to Logan. Of course not everyone was loyal, and the two men Kate knew had left and tried to turn on their boss, but despite what they had given the F.B.I., the Feds had been unable to take Logan White down. And so The Viper remained, a powerful figure in New York City, and the two men who had flipped on him remained hidden away in the Midwest, unable ever to go back.
And now here was a third man with the tattoo, as dead as someone could be. Kate watched the police officers do a quick investigation before they stepped off the muddy shore. Saracen came over to the group, while Jones went off a few steps and spoke into his radio.
“You found him then?” Saracen asked Hugh, and the man nodded. Saracen had pulled a small pad from his pocket, and was writing in it. “You live here?”
“This is my land,” Hugh said, pointing off toward the line of trees which grew an acre or so away from the pond. “My house is just past that, and I have a few acres over there, growing corn mostly.”
“And you came over at what time?”
Hugh scratched his chin. “Well, it was an hour ago, I think. I was coming to check on one of my cows; she had scratched her leg. I wanted to check up on her, so I came through the woods by the pond and saw this man.”
“And he flagged you down?” Saracen asked, turning to Isaac.
“Yes sir,” Isaac said, nodding his head slowly. “He was standing out here. My wife saw him, and we stopped. He was trying to get our attention.”
“You had already called us, right?” the cop asked. “Why stop them?”
“Well,” Hugh said, his voice falling a little. He seemed slightly sheepish. “I just, well, I didn’t want to be alone here. And uh, I wanted to go to the road and make sure you saw me, but I didn’t know if that was all right, to leave him. I thought maybe an animal or something might come, or maybe he’d slide back in. I don’t know; I just wanted someone else here.”
Saracen nodded, working to keep his face still, although his lips twitched in an almost-smile. Kate knew that most people were uncomfortable with bodies. Police officers weren’t, as a rule, although she wondered how many bodies a cop saw out here in the farm country.
“Well, my partner is calling a detective in, and a few more officers. Hugh, if you could stay, that would be great, but Isaac, you and Kate are welcome to leave.”
“All right, then,” Isaac said. “Are you all right here then, Hugh?”
“Yes, I reckon I am now,” the man said, and he smiled. “I’m glad you stopped though. I didn’t want to stand out here alone for another minute. My wife, Amy, is very upset.”
Kate smiled and then turned to Isaac. “I might just stay,” she said, and she knew the three men were looking at her. “If that’s okay, I mean,” she added quickly. “Maybe Mr. White can give me a ride after. I know the police are here, but they’ll be working, and I thought Amy might like some company.”
Hugh was nodding before Kate had even stopped speaking. “Yes, that would be fine with me, if it’s okay with the officers here.”
Saracen shrugged as his partner Jones came over. “Sure,” he said simply, and then turned to hear what Jones had to say.
“Got ‘em coming, be about half an hour,” he said before turning to Hugh. “Can you stay out here? They’ll want to speak with you. We can send ‘em to your house if you prefer.”
“No, it’s fine,” Hugh said, but he took some steps away from the pond, and Kate felt as if she should follow him.
When she stood in front of him, she smiled. “Are you all right?”
“Just shaken up, I guess,�
� Hugh said. “You seem to be doing okay. Amy almost passed out earlier when I told her.”
“I’m okay,” Kate said with a slight shrug. “Iron stomach, I guess.”
Kate didn’t know who the man was, not exactly at least, but she knew more than she could let on. She knew he was somehow involved with The Viper, and she knew that meant he was bad news.
Psalm 36:10-12.
Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart! Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise.
Chapter 2.
Eventually, more cars pulled up to the road, and three more officers in blue uniforms came to the pond, along with two men in suits. Kate recognized one of them. It was Detective Ryan Weaver.
“What are you doing here?” he asked Kate.
“We were driving by.”
“Who is we?”
“Isaac and Beth and me. Isaac and Beth left.”
“And you stayed?”
Kate nodded.
“Of course you did,” Ryan said, but Kate noticed a small smile spreading on his lips. He excused himself and went to the body along with an older man who had not been introduced to Kate. They spent some time going over the scene, and then Ryan came back to Kate and Hugh.
“Do you think we could go over to your house, Mr. White?” Ryan asked. “We have some forensic guys coming, and we’ll just be in the way. Just me and you, and our friend, Kate, here.”
“Sure,” Hugh said, nodding his head. “Follow me.”
And so Kate found herself walking in step with the two men, toward the trees. Then they were going through the thin strip of woods, and when they came out on the other side, she could see Hugh’s large, white farmhouse. It had shutters, and a large garden wrapped around one side and continued along the back of the house. Hugh’s wife, Amy, was in the garden, on her knees and pulling weeds. When she realized she had company, she stood and turned. Her face was pleasant and round, her cheeks pink. She was sweating, and she pulled off a big sun hat which was over her bonnet and used it to fan her face.
In Plain View (Amish Safe House, Book 2) Page 1